1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a dishwasher having a microfilter disposed at a sump which collects water to filter out dirt while dishes are washed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dishwasher generally includes a body provided with an inlet at the front thereof to allow dishes to be introduced, a washing chamber disposed at the inside of the inlet, and a door to open and close the inlet. The washing chamber includes a rack to retain dishes placed thereon, and a nozzle to spray water onto the dishes retained in the rack to wash off the dishes.
A sump is arranged at the lower portion of the washing chamber to collect water used for washing the dishes and then circulate or discharge the collected water. The wash water and the debris separated from the dishes are collected in the sump.
If the debris collected in the sump is introduced into the circulation pump used for circulation of water, it may disturb operation of the circulation pump. Therefore, a filter is disposed at the sump to prevent the debris from being introduced into the circulation pump by filtering off the debris.
The filter includes a microfilter to filter out small debris, a coarse filter to filter out debris larger than a predetermined size, and a fine filter having holes whose size is larger than that of the holes of the microfilter and smaller than that of the holes of the coarse filter. When the microfilter is used, fine debris may inevitably be stuck. Accordingly, a user may need to regularly remove the filter from the sump and clean the same.
The dishwasher carries out main operations of washing, rinsing and drying. Once the main operations are completed and the user removes the dishes from the dishwasher, the dishwasher is left with a certain amount of moisture and residual contaminants contained in the closed environment of the dishwasher until it is used again.
A water collecting basin positioned at the lower portion of the inside of the dishwasher is a space functioning as a starting point at which the wash water and contaminants are collected and recirculated. When all the main operations are completed, part of the debris removed by washing the dishes remains in the water collecting basin.
Particularly, a large amount of debris tends to reside in the filter in the water collecting basin. In addition, due to the closed structure of the dishwasher, the inside of the dishwasher remains highly humid after washing is carried out. Even when the door is left open, a certain amount of water remains in the water collecting basin, which may cause high humidity in the water collecting basin. In this case, the contaminants remaining in the filter may facilitate proliferation of microorganisms.